QUETTA: The Balochistan chapter of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has alleged that a medical superintendent of a government hospital and a former health secretary were transferred after they refused to get involved in embezzlement of development funds.

Talking to journalists here on Thursday, PMA Balochistan President Dr Sultan Tareen claimed the medical superintendent was transferred from Quetta to a small town after he refused to join a “network of corrupt officials who embezzled millions of rupees meant for development of hospitals”.

He alleged that the medical superintendent was asked to sign some bills pertaining to a Rs500 million project and offered a heavy share in return. The money was allocated for construction of wards and renovation of the hospital.

Dr Tareen quoted the medical superintendent as claiming that the embezzled money was also distributed among some powerful government figures.

Dr Tareen alleged that the former health secretary, Abdul Saboor Kakar, was transferred after he refused to obey “illegal orders from a government authority about appointments, postings and transfers in his department and the government hospitals”.

“Abdul Saboor Kakar is an honest officer and a man of principles and he was transferred to another department after he refused to become part of the dirty game,” he remarked.

Dr Tareen said the PMA Balochistan had been disappointed by the one-year performance of the provincial government because it could not bring about any improvement in the hospitals.

“A huge amount of money has been released for development and non-development expenditures of the health department, but medicines are not available at government hospitals across the province for poor patients,” he said.

He said the BMC Quetta, the largest hospital in the province, did not have a single dialysis machine and old machines at the Civil Hospital, Quetta, were out of order.

The PMA Balochistan president said that billions of rupees had been allocated in the 2014-15 provincial budget but neither medicines nor machinery and equipment were provided to government hospitals, even in Quetta.